365 Days
by Kate McLeod
Summary: Rose left a total mess behind her when she decided to spend one year abroad in the USA. But now that she's coming back she has to face her family, her friends and the things that happened the last day of term ...
1. I

1

Go, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go ….. Scorpius repeated like a mantra in his head as went faster and faster not stopping even when he saw the goalposts becoming bigger and bigger in front of him. He had to prove it to himself. In the last second he pulled his broomstick round hard – just seconds before he'd crashed into the goalposts. He'd done this maneuver over and over again and not once did he crash into them. He couldn't understand why not.

He reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to do this every time he was on a broom. As twisted as it seemed the Quidditch pitch was the only place where he could get a clear head. When he just flew fast enough he could escape his racing thoughts …

He made another round through the goalposts before he lowered the speed of his broom and got down on the lawn. The slight euphoria vanished as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"Good flight", someone commented. Scorpius tensed. He turned around to see Al limping towards him. "But you should avoid that sharp u-turn since we both know you're not good at them", he joked. Albus gave Scorpius an amused smile but he didn't return it. He turned around and fidgeted something on his sports bag. "Do you want something?", he asked curtly.

"She's coming back tonight.", Albus said. Scorpius looked up. He tried to figure out what Al wanted to say with this but with Al you never knew. Al just turned around and left him with his confusing thoughts.


	2. II

1

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back … Rose repeated in her head like a mantra as she looked out the window trying to shake off the vivid images of the dream she just had

_a laugh ... far too much darkness ... "Look out" ... but it was already too late _

The nature outside was blurred by the speed of the train. Or maybe it was just her who couldn't focus.

Usually Rose liked going by train but she felt sick and if she had known a spell to slow down time she would have.

But Hogsmeade came nearer and nearer. And with every meter the memories came back. Rose had no idea what her returning to this place meant for her. She'd been gone for a year and she hadn't been the same since the end of term last year. What happened if they hadn't been the same either?

It was still beyond her how she had been able to mix up everything and if she'd have the chance to leave forever she would've leapt up and be out of the door but unfortunately her mum would never allow her to do so. The train slowed and halted at last at Hogsmeade Station.

"And here we go again", Rose said to herself as she dragged her luggage into the aisle between the compartments and plastered a smile on her face as she stepped out onto the station. Her family already awaited her.

"Rose", Hugo sprinted forward to her. As long as the weren't around his friends he was the cutest baby brother you could have.

"It's great to see you, too, H.", Rose said, pleased that at least her family seemed to be happy at her arrival.

"You look good, kid", her father greeted her rather cool. He'd never been that much into feelings.

Rose looked around. "Where's Mum?", she asked, expecting her to show up any minute.

Hugo and her father shared a meaningful look. "She is … busy, you know this new draft law is keeping her busy"

Rose nodded. Her mother was – as usual – caught up in her work.

"Well, then, let's go home", she said dragging her trunk through the station to Hogsmeade – her hone town

* * *

><p>Hey guys, I know it's not much but reviews are still appreciated<p> 


	3. III

3

Rose nearly fell over crook shanks as she entered the little house of her parents at the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It was a little comfortable house held in warm tones mostly gold and red for which her father was responsible.

It seemed different. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Maybe she was just gone for too long. Time didn't stood still in Hogsmeade – or so she hoped.

"Mum!", she called through the house. Her mother came out of her office.

"Oh honey, I'm so glad you're back", she said hugging Rose, nearly strangling her. Her mother looked the same as always. Her bushy mane was falling over her shoulders an her smile seemed even warmer.

"Mum", Rose coughed.

Her mother let go and mustered her at arms length. "Look at you, young lady. The photos you sent are nothing compared to reality. You look so good" Rose was glad nobody saw how crappy she felt. But it was true. She'd grown four inches since she had been in away and her fragile body showed actually slight curves. She was still petite but for couldn't be mistaken for a young girl anymore.

"No, she looks like she threw up her whole lunch.", Hugo chimed in, grinning broadly at his sister.

"Thanks, Hugo", Rose said dry, but she knew he was right. She didn't like floo-powder. It made her feel sick. It was one of the reasons why she'd had took the train for the last part of the journey ...

"Wow, honey what happened to you? Have you become a fashion freak or what?", her father asked, needing two levitation spells to lift her trunk the staircase towards her room.

It was true during her time in USA her wardrobe extended a little bit (well a big bit). As she opened the door to her room she was startled to see it tidy – unlike she'd left it. There were no books lying on the floor, her desk was accurate and her bed just made.

"Um … did you ...?" She turned around to her mom.

"I'm sorry, Angel. But I just had to clean it. I wanted to tidy up for real at least once in here" Rose mustered her mother. Usually she had nothing against Rose's slight untidiness. Rose didn't felt comfortable in an accurate room and her mother knew that. When she was tidying up something was wrong.

"Mom, are you -", Rose began, but was interrupted by the shatter of a window. Her father and Hugo were already outside again, practicing quidditch.

Her mother smiled at her. "You look tired. Why don't you take a nap 'till dinner. I'll wake you up then", she said and left her room.

Rose let herself fall onto the bed and breathed the air of her room. It smelled a little bit dusty despite the completely clean shelves and floor. She felt like she was seeing everything through a glass wall, surrounding her and separating her from the rest of her home.

She looked out of the window. From here she could see the goalposts of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts. Tiny figures were flying in the air. Rose imagined seeing a blond boy. Maybe she should …

"See you for dinner", Rose murmured as she grabbed her jacket leaving the house, making her way down the road. She didn't know whether it was the right choice but she had the urge to talk to someone.

She was standing in front of the open Hogwarts Gate when she first doubted her decision. What did she hope from going there? Suddenly she felt stupid. Talking didn't change the things that had happened and she knew out of experience that talking could even make things worse. She didn't even know where they were standing right now. She didn't know where she wanted them to stand anyway.

"Oh my god, you're here", somebody squealed behind her. Rose turned around to see someone in blue Quidditch robes running towards her, nearly tackling her.

"Abbey", she exclaimed. At last someone to talk.

"How is it going?", Rose asked as they hugged. Abbey was her best friend and she hadn't seen her since her departure from Hogsmeade. She hadn't changed one bit since she last saw her. Her honeyblond hair was still straight and fell open into her face.

"Well how is it going in this boring town?", Abbey said rolling her eyes. Even though Hogsmeade was one of the last wizarding towns left it was too calm and sleepy for Abbey's taste.

"Did you want to go to the Quidditch field. We could go, you know. They'll all be thrilled to see you back." A few years back a new opportunity had been introduced, which enabled the Hogwarts Students – especially the ones who lived in Hogsmeade – to practice on the Quidditch pitch in summer holidays.

"No", Rose looked back. She saw some people flying around on the goalposts. One of the chasers did a very good job on scoring two times in a row. "Let's just go to town. I meant to find you anyway." And they made their way own the road again.

"So are you still as Quidditch mad as you were before I went away."

Abbey confirmed an launched in an explanation of her tight training schedule. Rose breathed in some times and tried to say something but she changed her mind and let Abbey fill her in on what was happening with their class mates. Then Rose remembered that Abbey hadn't mentioned a specific person in all of her reports.

"What happened to your new best friend Parker?"

Abbey gave her a meaningful look.

Rose laughed. "I knew he was into you. I told you so"

"I wish guys would stop falling for me because of my looks"

Rose laughed.

"What about you. Did you at least have an interesting love life while you're away?"

"No one of interest.", Rose said casting her eyes down.

"Does Scorpius know you're back?"

"I haven't talked to him yet."

"Okay", Abbey said. Rose was grateful that she didn't enquirer more but that wasn't Abbey's style. She accepted when Rose didn't want to go into details and she definitely didn't want to go into details where Scorpius was concerned.

They walked back to Abbey's House so she could out way all her Quidditch gear.

"So what do you want to do?", Abbey asked as she closed the door behind her.

"We could go to Lily's House. See how she's doing. I haven't seen her in ages"

"Nah, let's just go around town for a while. I need quills and parchments before the next year starts anyway."

"It's still one week 'till school.", Abbey argued.

"Even more reason to do it.", Rose said as she turned around the corner in the direction of the shop for quills and parchments.

"You go in there and I'll get some sweets from Honeydukes. I don't need to see you looking twenty minutes at all different ink bottles and deciding which one you will buy."

"Okay I'll meet you there.", Rose said and watched Abbey turn around again. The store was rather big. It had two rooms. In the front there were a lot of books and in the back through an open doorway you would find all the writing supplies everyone ever needed. She browsed through the shelves picking up an interesting book about photography. While she scanned over the pages debating whether to buy it or not she made her way to the back of the shop. As she looked up she froze. It was like ice cubes were filling her stomach. There in front of her stood the one person she had so hard tried to avoid. He looked as shocked as she felt. With a thud the book dropped to the floor and Rose whirled around to flee the shop. She was only a few paces away from it when she heard someone calling her.

"Rose, wait!" She would recognize Scorpius' voice everywhere. She kept on walking, trying to suppress the urge to look back. She couldn't believe she just ran into her ex-boyfriend at the store. Sure the Quidditch pitch, the Three Broomsticks, Zonko's she expected that … but not here.

"Would you wait up!", He managed to grab her wrist and spun her around holding her close to him. Too close for comfort. She tore herself away from him. "What do you want?", she deanded not looking him directly in the eye.

"Let's talk"

For one moment Rose looked at him incredulously not sure what he was trying to achieve. She tried to change her approach. Maybe the could get this over with in a civilized manner. She put a winning smile on her lips looked him straight in the eye ans asked with the nicest voice she could muster. "So have you been?"

Scorpius snorted. "Seriously!? You're asking me this question?"

Well so much for a different approach. "What do you expect from me?"

"An explanation, an apology … something along those lines." His voice was hard but he wasn't shouting. He never shouted even when he was angry.

"You've got to be kidding me", she murmured under her breath turning away. This was really the weirdest thing she ever experienced.

"I could say the same thing. I never get one letter from you. Heck I didn't even know you were coming back since a few hours ago."

Rose didn't know what to say. She had this feeling in her stomach, which always made her belief she was sick. She wanted to say something but no words could describe the fire in her stomach and the anger that came with it.

"Aren't you going to say anything about this?"

"Look, I don't know what to say. I came back okay but I didn't come back for this to rehash the past"

"What did you think was supposed to happen? You've been away for one year and you didn't think we would have an conversation after that. You're usually not delusional, Rose!"

Rose uttered an outraged sound. Now they definitely crossed the line. "I didn't come back for you Scorpius."

"By the rate this conversation is going I figured"

" I don't want … I can't talk about this." She shook her head so her hair fell into her face hiding the tears that were threatening to come.

Scorpius face softened. He extended his hand obviously wanting to brush her hair away.

Rose put her hands up. "Don't. I need to go on with my life. Without you" and she hurried off towards the Three Broomsticks.


End file.
